Spin-a-yarn

"There is always a story behind a picture."

says Julia Ormond who plays a photographer in the movie Sabrina, to Harrison Ford.

In my final year at school as Director Publications I had organized a week long literary event called Born Free to celebrate 50 years of Indian Independence. The competitions of the literary week were such that students from class sixth to class twelfth could participate in them. We had a book reading competition, an Enid Blyton quiz, a poetry writing competition, an essay writing competition and my personal favourite of the lot the Spin-a-yarn contest. In the latter we gave contestants chits to pick and each chit corresponded to a particular photo. Depending up on what the photo told them they had to spin a yarn, that is, write a story.

One of the photos was of hundreds of mice surrounding a bowl of milk. It was a coincidence that this picture came the way of a good friend of mine participating in the competition. I had thought that my friend's effort was one of the best stories but to my disappointment the judges felt differently.

I have to admit that while it may seem that the inspiration behind Spin-a-yarn was Julia Ormond's dialogue the suggestion to hold such a competition was actually given by my elder sister. My sister who was then doing her graduation used to tell me about the various festivals stretched over days going on in not just her college but also through out Delhi University. This got me excited enough to organize Born Free in school.

The Literary Week turned out to be a huge success and we even managed to get a monetary grant allotted from our Principal to give books as prizes to all the winners!!


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The original post was:
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In the movie Sabrina, Julia Ormond while urging Harrison Ford to take photographs of the scenic beauty around them says "There is always a story behind a picture."

What kind of story would my photograph tell? It would depend on a number of things. Like...

Is it a baby pic or a grown up one?
Whether I was simply posing or was caught doing some action?
Am I standing alone or am I part of a group?
Whether alone or amidst a crowd, am I looking happy or crying or frowning?
How are the other people seeming to interact?
What is the backdrop of the picture? A room, a stage or some beautiful landscape? Or was the photo taken during a celeberation?

The answers to these questions will help reveal my story though only in part. A collection of photos would give away a lot more. Even with the thousand words spoken by each photo, the compilation may still fail to tell the entire tale of my life. But whether a partial or complete account is disclosed what kind it shapes into lies up to us.

Very simply be good if that is what what you want your photos to say.